(8.) Inclinations or readiness to attend unto extenuations of sin, or the reliefs that are tendered against sin when committed, manifest the affections to be entangled with it. We have showed, and shall yet farther evidence, that it is a great part of the deceit of sin, to tender lesseninof and extenuatinc: thoughts of sin unto the mind. "Is it not a little one?" or, "There is mercy provided;" or, "It shall be in due time relinquished and given over," is its language in a deceived heart. Now, when there is a readiness in the soul to hearken and give entertainment unto such secret insinuations, arising from this
THE WORKING OF SIN BY DECEIT. 247
deceit, in reference unto any sin or unapprovable course, it is an e\a- dence that the affections are enticed. When the soul is willing, as it were, to be tempted, to be courted by sin, to hearken to its dalli- ances and solicitations, it hath lost of its conjugal affections unto Christ, and is entangled. This is " looking on the wine when it is red, when it giveth its colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright," Prov. xxiii. 8 1 ; — a pleasing contemplation on the invitations of sin, whose end the wise man gives us, verse 82. When the deceit of sin hath prevailed thus far on any person, then he is enticed or entangled. The will is not yet come to the actual conception of this or that sin by its consent, but the whole soul is in a near inclination thereunto. And many other instances I could give as tokens and evidences of this entanglement: these may suffice to manifest what we intend thereby.
2. Our next inquiry is, How, or by what means, the deceit of sni proceeds thus to entice and entangle the affections? And two or three of its baits are manifest herein : —
(1.) It makes use of its former prevalency upon the mind in drawing it off from its watch and circumspection. Says the wise man, Prov. i. 17, " Surely in vain is the net spread in the sight of any bird ; " or " before the eyes of every thing that hath a wing," as in the original. If it hath eyes open to discern the snare, and a wing to carry it away, it will not be caught. And in vain should the deceit of sin spread its snares and nets for the entanglement of the soul, whilst the eyes of the mind are intent upon what it doth, and so stir up the wings of its will and affections to carry it away and avoid it. But if the eyes be put out or diverted, the wings are of very little use for escape ; and, therefore, this is one of the ways which is used by them who take birds or fowls in their nets. They have false lights or shows of things, to divert the sight of their prey; and when that is done, they take the season to cast their nets upon them. So doth the deceit of sin ; it first draws off and diverts the mind by false reasonings and pretences, as hath been showed, and then casts its net upon the affections for their entanglement.
(2.) Taking advantage of such seasons, it proposeth sin as desirahle, as exceeding satisfactory to the corrupt part of our affections. It gilds over the object by a thousand pretences, which it presents unto corrupt lustings. This is the laying of a bait, which the apostle in this verse evidently alludes unto. A bait is somewhat desirable and suitable, that is proposed to the hungry creature for its satisfaction ; _and it is by all artifices rendered desirable and suitable. Thus is sin presented by the help of the imagination unto the soul ; that is, sin- ful and inordinate objects, which the affections cleave unto, are so presented. The apostle tells us that there are " pleasures of sin,"
248 THE NATURE AND POWEll OF INDWELLING SIN.
Heb. xi. 25; which, unless they are despised, as they were by Moses, there is no escaping of sin itself. Hence they that live in sin are said to " live in pleasure," James v. 5. Now, this pleasure of sin consisteth in its suitableness to give satisfaction to the flesh, to lust, to corrupt affections. Hence is that caution, Rom. xiii. 14, " Make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof;" that is, " Do not suffer your minds, thoughts, or affections to fix upon sinful objects, suited to give satisfaction to the lusts of the flesh, to nourish and cherish them thereby." To which pui'pose he speaks again. Gal. v. 16, " Fulfil ye not the lust of the flesh;" — " Bring not in the pleasures of sin, to give them satisfaction." When men are under the power of sin, they are said to " fulfil the desires of the flesh and of the mind," Eph. ii. 3. Thus, therefore, the deceit of sin endeavours to entangle the affections by proposing unto them, through the assistance of the imagination, that suitableness which is in it to the satisfaction of its corrupt lusts, now set at some liberty by the inadvertency of the mind. It 2:)resents its " wine sparkling in the cup," the beauty of the adulteress, the riches of the world, unto sensual and covetous persons ; and somewhat in the like kind, in some degrees, to believers them- selves. "When, therefore, I say, sin would entangle the soul, it pre- vails with the imagination to solicit the heart, by representing this false-painted beauty or pretended satisfactoriness of sin ; and then if Satan, with any peculiar temptation, fall in to its assistance, it often- times inflames all the affections, and puts the wliole soul into dis- order.